The Boys of Summer

It's almost that time of year when I can say 'so long' to the treadmill and get outside to run in the fresh air and sunshine. I love spring. It's my favorite time of year -- by far. The days are getting longer and warmer, the snow is melting, the lawn reappearing. It's too early to worry about cutting grass, and too early for dandelions to be popping up.
My brother Roger loved spring. I don't remember that he was a major sports fan until the last several years when he became a loyal Twins follower. Rog would write to Pat and I about how the Twins were doing this spring... what their chances were... who was hitting or pitching well. He became a bigger fan than I was, turning on Mom's transistor radio and bringing me up-to-date on the score when the kids and I would make our usual Saturday afternoon excursion to Grandma's. And then later, when we would visit Mom at Brady Home, chances are a baseball game would be on TV, and not that Mom was a sports fan, but Rog enjoyed it. I don't recall if he ever saw a Twins game in person, although he may have seen other major league games when he was younger. I always marveled that Rog -- who never showed much interest in sports before -- became such a Twins fan in his 50s. It was our way of connecting and we stayed close, as we did with Pat too, who shared our love for sports.
I became hooked on baseball and the Twins when Dad took me on a Farmers Union bus tour to the Twin Cities when I was about 10. It was larger than life for a kid from a small South Dakota town to visit the big city. And that first glimpse of Metropolitan Stadium was awesome! Watching the Twins beat the Detroit Tigers at old Metropolitan Stadium was a surreal experience for a starry-eyed sports-crazy kid like me. I got to see my heroes -- Earl Battey, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew, Don Mincher and the rest of the Twins gang. I don't remember the year, but the fact that Dad -- who was not a sports fan -- did this for me was something I never forgot. I remember that Nick Wenande and Mike went along too. It was great fun sharing the experience with a friend of mine. Since then I've seen a dozen or more major league games at the Metrodome, the Kingdome in Seattle, Kaufman Stadium (formerly Royals Stadium) in Kansas City, and US Cellular Field in Chicago. They've all been great experiences, but there's nothing like your first major league game. Mom even embroidered "Twins" on a green spring jacket of mine. Oh yeah, I was a fan.
The start of spring training still brings a smile to my face, as it did this year when my old Army Reserve friend, Max Myers, called from Ft. Myer s, FL where he was attending a Twins-Red Sox grapefruit league game. My bobblehead collection now is my unofficial "Twins Hall of Fame." Not necessarily all the Twins of great note, but many whom I idolized, including the late Earl Battey (who was always my favorite because, like him, I was a catcher); Tony Oliva (who, like me, threw right-handed and batted left), and had a sweet swing at the plate; Harmon Killebrew, who these days would never make it but back then was all power; Rod Carew, the Twins' batting leader; Tom Kelly (who managed the Twins to both of their World Series titles); Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer (the present day M&M twins); the late Kirby Puckett (probably the most popular Twin of all time); and now Bert Blyleven, the newest Twin recently elected to the Hall of Fame. Since then I've also added Pete Rose, admittedly never a Twin but whom we met in a sports shop in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas during our vacation in January 2009. For the mere price of purchasing his bobblehead, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader autographed it and posed for pictures too. There's no rhyme or reason or sound justification for a grown man collecting bobbleheads. Just a link to a childhood and a reminder of heroes, past and present, and a game that still draws us to the ball park.